


Thunderstorms

by quinnovative



Series: Maggie Big-Sistering Kara [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gen, Hurt Kara Danvers, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Kara, Maggie being a big sister, Sanvers- but Alex doesn't make an appearance until the end, everyone is soft, maggie and kara are my brotp, they are the best of pals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 14:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10388847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinnovative/pseuds/quinnovative
Summary: Prompt: Kara gets stabbed/injured but manages to fly to Maggie's place. Alex is somewhere in another country so Maggie takes care of Kara.aka Maggie's a big sister when Alex isn't there and Kara's in desperate need of helpor"Maggie’s eyes follow the blood upward to the source, sees Kara leaning against the kitchen island. Her right arm is slinked around her abdomen, her left hand attempts to grab the counter but keeps slipping against blood and when she finally grips the edge some of the granite crumbles beneath the pressure of her grasp.Her frame quivers, shaking legs and torn super suit illuminated as lightning bolts across the sky."





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just love them sooooo much

Maggie Sawyer is not scared of thunderstorms. No. Absolutely not.

She just doesn’t _like_ them. When she was small (small _er_ ) she would crawl into her parents’ bed and curl into a ball beneath the covers until the thunder passed. But once Maggie was five years old and going to school, she’d learned to pull it together because she was a big girl now and she could be tough, and even if they scared her _a little,_ didn’t mean she had to show it.

And now she’s an adult and she’s not scared of thunderstorms. She just doesn’t like them.

She doesn’t like them because it was raining when she was outed to her parents and kicked from the house she grew up in. It rained when she sprinted to her room and collapsed face down onto her bed, soaking her sheets with tears as she cried and cried and cried. It rained the next day at school when her best friend wouldn’t even look at her and whispers followed Maggie through the halls like fire. It was raining when a drunk driver almost took her aunt, almost left her completely alone and with nowhere to stay.

Bad things happen when thunderstorms hit, so she doesn’t like the way pavement gets slick and streets flood; or the cracks of thunder so powerful she feels them vibrate her ribs; or the howl of wind screaming outside.

She just doesn’t like them.

So when she comes home today to Alex’s apartment (that’d officially become _their_ apartment two months ago) and tracks raindrops across the floor she’s not happy. She’s actually a little pissed as she kicks off her shoes and throws her bag onto the counter.

Her eyes catch the clock that reads 10:38 pm as she yanks off her jacket and thinks that Alex should be home by now. Only then, she remembers that Alex is away, deep undercover in an undisclosed location that the detective doesn’t even know because _Maggie, it’s so confidential they won’t even tell me until I’m being transported there, but don’t worry, babe. It’ll be fine and it’s only a week or so and I’ll be back before you know it._

Well she’s not back and Maggie does know it, and it’s only been six days. And how much longer is that last day going to drag on for?

 She stands shivering in the living room, hair dripping and water droplets slapping against the floor, for a moment before she drags a hand over her wet face and blinks away the rain clinging to her eyelashes before trudging to the bathroom.

She strips out of her drenched clothes, grumbling a stream of curse words that would give the storm outside a run for its money when the wet denim of her jeans catches around her ankle and she hops around on the tile for a second as she tries to pull it off and nearly loses her balance in the process.

It honestly feels like a historic victory and gift from God when Maggie climbs into the shower and the first droplets of warmth meet her skin and bathe her body in the soft heat. She closes her eyes and a tiny smile curls across her face even as she hears another boom of that damned thunder.

Except, she’s reaching for the shampoo (okay _Alex’s shampoo_ because she misses her girlfriend, damn it is that really a crime?) when she hears it again, only it doesn’t really sound like thunder.

It doesn’t actually sound like thunder at all.

There’s another thud in quick succession and that is definitely not thunder. Not even close.

Maggie’s genuinely considering ignoring it, literally has her fingers curled around the shampoo bottle, poised to squeeze when she hears a different noise creep through the rain and shower; hears what sounds suspiciously like a window opening. She curses the fact that she’s already locked up her gun in a safe.

 _Screw it,_ she finally decides as she turns off the shower and quickly tugs on the sweatpants and sweater she’d had the foresight to grab after deciding that she didn’t want to do the whole ‘trekking through the apartment while soaking wet’ thing.

She eases the door open, peers around the corner with a plan formulating in her head when her breath catches in her throat. Blood is smeared across the window, quickly mixing with rain and slithering away. The deep crimson is splattered across the wood floor, dripping into a puddle.

Maggie’s eyes follow the blood upward to the source, sees Kara leaning against the kitchen island. Her right arm is slinked around her abdomen, her left hand attempts to grab the counter but keeps slipping against blood and when she finally grips the edge some of the granite crumbles beneath the pressure of her grasp.

Her frame quivers, shaking legs and torn super suit illuminated as lightning bolts across the sky.

“Holy shit,” Maggie mutters and then she doesn’t even have time to panic or be scared or even ask what’s wrong or what the hell happened because Kara sinks to the floor and the sound of her knees hitting the ground and her body following as it sinks into its own blood reverberates through the apartment.

“Sorry,” Kara whispers and her voice is nearly drowned out by Maggie’s own breathing, before the storm even thunders and the wind shrieks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—I didn’t have anywhere else to go and…” she doesn’t get to finish her sentence though, as a ripple of pain sears through her body and she doubles over, hand still clutching her abdomen as a suppressed scream bursts from her lips.

Maggie runs a hand over Kara’s hair, gently turns Kara’s frame so she’s lying on her back. “It’s okay... I—I’m glad you came. We have to get you to the DEO. I’m going to call—“

“No!” Kara yelps, watery eyes locking onto Maggie’s “You can’t! It’s been destroyed, alien attack.” She makes a move to curl onto her side, hand still pressing hard against her abdomen, blood pouring through her fingers.

“Okay, okay, I won’t,” Maggie promises and links her finger’s with Kara’s shaking hand, uses her other to push the blonde back so she’s lying flat. “What happened? What can I do?” Her eyes dart over Kara’s frame, stop on the place from her abdomen where blood spills. Any other injuries will have to wait until she can get the bleeding under control.

“It’s kryptonite,” she wheezes, another spasm of pain racks her body and the squeeze she gives Maggie’s hand tells the other woman that Kara’s powers are fluctuating. “I need—I need to get it out. When it’s out the w-wound will heal if we c-can do it before I solar flare.”

Maggie nods. “You stay here and don’t you dare pass out on me, okay? I’m going to grab a few supplies. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“O-okay,” Kara winces, curling her legs toward her chest as Maggie stands. “Mag… Maggie if…” her words trail off as Maggie disappears from Kara’s field of vision and the act of merely staying awake begins to consume all of her focus.

Maggie’s image invades the darkening haze of Kara’s sight a moment later. “Do you want to move to the couch or bed?” the older woman asks.

Kara shakes her head, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “I don—don’t think I can right n—now.”

“Okay,” Maggie says and slides a pillow under Kara’s head. The blonde blinks and her tears spill over, a whimper falling from her lips. “Hey, it’s okay, Kar. You’re doing great, I’m going to remove the big piece now, okay?”

“Okay, it’s syn-synthetic, once it’s out of contact w-with me you can deactivate it w-with low temperatures like a fr-freezer,” Kara murmurs and receives a nod in response, eyes closing as she feels Maggie uncurl one of her fists and fill it with wound fabric from her cape.

“You might want something to squeeze,” she explains, gently rubbing Kara’s leg as she moves to the side where her hand is pressed against her skin.

“Kara, I need you to let go for me,” Maggie says softly.

“I can’t,” Kara mutters, arm curling tighter around her abdomen. Her eyes are closed tightly, teeth grinding in pain.

“Yes, you can. I need to get to the kryptonite and then it’ll be over quick,” Maggie explains, pulling on crime scene gloves she has in her bag for work and Kara sucks in a sharp breath as Maggie pries her weakening grip away from her side, revealing mangled skin that hangs in strips, and a sick green glow emanating from beneath the outpour of blood.  

Maggie kneels over Kara, prays to gods she’s never believed in, and plunges her fingers into Kara’s flesh.

The blonde’s eyes snap open, body convulsing upward as she screams, and Maggie’s grip finds the largest shard of kryptonite. She yanks it out with suddenly shaking fingers, the substance grates Kara’s skin, slits her flesh.

Another yelp shreds her throat raw and she collapses, arched back slamming against the ground.

Her vision bursts sparks of color behind her eyes. A moment passes and it’s not until she hears the sound of the freezer shutting, feels Maggie’s firm but kind touch at her side, that she opens her eyes and through watery vision sees her sister’s girlfriend.

She sniffles, closes her eyes again. The flames of pain recede fractionally. “Is it out?”

Maggie nods.

“Sorry,” Kara mutters again and a sob lurches from her aching lungs.

“Shh. It’s okay, you’re okay,” Maggie coos, pressing a towel against Kara’s skin to quell the bleeding. They fall into a tense silence as Maggie pushes and Kara tries her best not to squirm beneath the pain scorching across her abdomen.

“Mags?” Kara whispers in a breathy exhale, eyes still clenched shut.

“Yeah?”’

“I think—I think it’s healing pretty well, but my powers are slowing down... there’s still kryptonite in my system but the pieces are too small to get out.”

Maggie pulls the towel away, sees that the bleeding has stopped, that the depth and width of the gash have decreased. Her mouth almost drops in awe, when she hears Kara’s already labored breathing grow louder.

She looks over to see Kara trying to prop herself up on her elbow, skin paling, gaze glassy again. 

“Hey Kar, what’s wrong? You’re not looking so great.”

“Mag—Maggie, I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Maggie darts across the room, returns with a small trashcan and places it against the blonde’s side and helps her sit up.

Another set of minutes pass as Kara sits, eyes closed, breath fast; and Maggie spends her time cleaning and dressing Kara’s wound with gauze. When she finishes Kara stays taut and shivering so Maggie takes the time to treat other gashes littering Kara’s skin.

The blonde’s looking a little better when Maggie pulls back this time. “I think we should move to the bathroom if you’re up for it… you good?”

Kara nods, her gaze is still fuzzy and it’s a little hard to focus on Maggie but the burning in her skin has faded.

They stand slowly, Maggie holding both of Kara’s arms. The room spins in her vision as Kara stands, she stumbles forward and a sharp pain shoots up her leg; she grabs the countertop, and it’s slick with her own blood. Her face feels hot, body shaking and her stomach lurches.

She lunges for the trashcan, hunches over it as her stomach aches and she throws up. Maggie holds back Kara’s hair with one hand, places the other on Kara’s hip to steady her.

“Not good,” Kara mutters in between coughs as she spits. Finally leaning back up after another minute of heaving.

“It’ll pass,” Maggie says, takes the trashcan from Kara when she’s sure the blonde is done and sets it on the floor. She’ll deal with it once Kara’s settled, but right now the Kryptonian is swaying and paling at an alarming rate. “Come on,” Maggie says gently and tucks her shoulder under Kara’s arm to help stabilize her. “You need to lie down, get some rest, but first we need to get you cleaned up real fast.”

“I think I’m mostly okay,” Kara says, takes a small step and grimaces. “It’s jus-just my leg really hurts when I walk… It nor-normally would have healed, whatever’s wrong with it, but my powers have been fluctuating and weak-weakening with the kryptonite still inside me and-”

“Kara,” Maggie says as they inch another step forward. “It’s okay. We’ll take care of it.”

It takes four and a half minutes to finally reach the bathroom. Four and a half minutes of slow steps and Kara biting her lip in an effort to suppress yelps of pain. By the time they reach the door Kara’s body sags against Maggie, head dipping and Maggie eases her down onto the closed lid of the toilet.

She’s quiet and efficient as she works, wipes Kara’s face of the dirt and blood and sweat that’d accumulated there in the past few hours. She ties blonde hair back into a French braid and as her gentle fingers plait against Kara’s head, the younger woman’s eyes close, her breathing steadying.

“Are you feeling any better?” Maggie asks and Kara nods slowly. The burning pain has dulled and she feels a numbing exhaustion clouding her injuries, feels her head fall forward and jerks awake.

Maggie rubs her shoulder, promises Kara that she’ll get to sleep soon, and disappears for a moment before returning with a pair of pajamas Kara keeps at the apartment.

Helping Kara change lets Maggie know that Kara’s standards of ‘feeling better’ must be pretty low, because in addition to the puncture wound they’d dealt with earlier, dark bruising blooms across her abdomen and Maggie’s seen that injury pattern enough to know it means Kara’s sporting a couple of cracked ribs. And then there’s the knee, that’s swollen and turning purple and the source of Kara’s wince every time they walk.

Maggie catalogs the injuries as she gently pulls Kara to her feet, mentally notes what she can do that might make Kara feel better. They shuffle to the bedroom, Kara grasping tightly onto Maggie. Kara tries to hide her grimace with each step, but even she can’t suppress the sigh of relief that emerges when they reach the bed and Maggie stacks some pillows behind Kara before easing her down.

“Do you need anything?” Maggie asks and Kara shakes her head, eyes already half closed.

“Thank you,” Kara says, fingers lazily toying with the hem of the comforter. “For everything.”

“Of course. I’ll be right back, I’m just going to grab you a few things.” With that, Maggie turns from the room, returns minutes later with her hands full. She sets a bottle of water on the nightstand and situates ice across Kara’s ribs and knee, before spreading a blanket on top of everything when she notices Kara shivering.

“Good?”

Kara nods; she’s getting that faraway look in her eyes and Maggie feels her chest tighten a little for the girl in front of her that’s lost so much.

“Okay. I’m going to go clean up a bit out there. You get some rest.” She hovers awkwardly over Kara for a moment, knows Kara is tactile and wants to help her feel better, but doesn’t know how. She settles for a squeeze on Kara’s shoulder, rubs her thumb over the edge of the blonde’s collarbone, her face is still contorted tight in pain, muscles held taut. “I’ll come check on you in a little bit and remove that ice, too.”

Kara nods again and Maggie disappears from view as the Kryptonian’s eyes can’t keep open and fall closed.

/

A little over fifteen minutes have passed when she returns to the bedroom, with most of the mess cleaned up and all bodily fluids removed from the apartment kitchen. She walks quietly, eases her feet down with each step and moves through the darkness.

Maggie’s lifts up Kara’s blanket and gently pulls off the ice, is in the process of returning from depositing it in the kitchen when she hears a sob bubble from beneath the mass of blankets on the bed.

“Kara,” she whispers, tugging on the lamp next to the bed and soaking the room in dim yellow light. Kara’s eyes stare past her, puffy and red. “What’s wrong? Does something else hurt? Did it get worse?”

Kara shakes her head and her bottom lip quivers again. “It’s okay,” she says and Maggie can barely hear her. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Maggie’s voice is gentle as she climbs onto the bed and sits beside the blonde, not talking again until they’re holding eye contact. “Kara,” she says. “What happened at the DEO tonight?”

Kara sobs again and Maggie twists her own fingers nervously. Handling tears is not her forte. “It was so horrible, Maggie. It was so bad. Cadmus attacked; they destroyed everything and I _tried…_ I tried to stop them but I couldn’t there was too much… there was _so much_ of them and now so—so much of the building is ruined and so many people are h—hurt, and…” she chokes on a cry and Maggie takes the younger woman’s shaking hand in her own.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie whispers and it pulls Kara’s eyes back toward her. “I’m so sorry that that happened and I’m sorry people got hurt and that the DEO was damaged, but it wasn’t your fault, Little Danvers. I know you, and that means I know you did everything you could.”

Kara lets out another cry in response, but her shoulders don’t shake so violently as before. She looks tired, and younger than Maggie’s ever seen her as the blankets swallow her, only a pale, watery face and blonde hair peeking out. Lids fall half over those blue eyes again, a small yawn taking over her features.

Maggie smiles softly and thumbs away the tears still clinging to Kara’s cheeks. “You look exhausted.”

Kara mumbles something and Maggie laughs, sleepy Little Danvers is something she can deal with. Something she _has_ dealt with on numerous movie nights with the sisters, and even later nights of joint crime fighting at the DEO.

“So maybe you should sleep soon, because Little Danvers, you are _not_ all sunshine in the morning when you haven’t slept much. You’re actually borderline mean sometimes,” she teases, pressing on the fact that she does not think she’s seen Kara act mean ever.

Kara gasps, feigning surprise and offense as her eyes open, sudden alight with attention and grateful for a distraction. “I am not.”

Maggie raises a brow, bites back a grin. “Tell that to the three coffee mugs you’ve sent to the garbage because you shattered them in the past week. All before 7:30 am and all on nights of less than five hours of sleep.”

“I—that was my powers—they---I can’t… I can’t co—ugh,” Kara sputters and Maggie can’t hold back a laugh as Kara faux glares at her, sticks up her nose indignantly. “I wasn’t aware you were keeping tabs on me, detective.”

“It wasn’t exactly discreet, Little Danvers. You were right in front of me. And they broke rather loudly.” Maggie laughs and Kara leans over to swat her shoulder, a little shimmer aching behind the glassy cover that’d held the blonde’s eyes all night.

As she moves, something tugs sharply in her abdomen. A flash of burning pain draws a gasp from her lips, sends her sinking back against the pillows.

“Hey, you okay?” Maggie asks, sitting upright again.

Kara nods, face contorted back into a grimace of pain. She breathes hard and slow for a minute until the hurt passes and only discomfort remains. When she uncurls herself, finally regaining the ability to focus on something other than the burning in her side she realizes that somewhere in the cloud of pain Maggie had taken her hand, held it tightly through the whole thing. Just like Alex would have done.

It takes Kara a moment to realize Maggie’s talking and when she looks over at the detective, the woman is already halfway through an apology.

“—and I’m sorry I’m not very good at taking care of people. Even though I wish I were better and I’m sorry if I’m making this worse and I—“

“Maggie,” Kara cuts her off. She’s not sure she’s ever seen the detective look so unsure. “You’re doing great. Look,” She holds up their hands, where they’re still curled together, shakes them a little before letting go. “You’re a natural.”

Maggie smiles a little at that. “Thanks, Little Danvers,” she says, begins playing with the blonde’s hair. “You really should get some sleep soon. Or your sister’s going to kill us both. Whenever she gets back.”

Kara nods and closes her eyes just as a crack of thunder booms outside. Kara snaps alert and Maggie jolts, she’d forgotten about all _that,_ with the chaos that’d happened with Kara.

Kara’s looking at her with eyebrows crunched, the corners of her lips frowning.

Maggie takes a deep breath and sighs. “I don’t… I don’t like thunderstorms very much,” she explains. “They’re fine, I guess.” She drops her gaze to her hands in her lap. “Just a lot of bad feelings attached to them. Times when I’d felt like I’d lost my family and stuff. It’s stupid, I should be over it—but thunderstorms just take me back to those bad moments sometimes, I don’t know…” She’s starting to ramble and Maggie Sawyer is not one to ramble.

“I don’t really like them either,” Kara whispers in the dark and Maggie looks back up at her. “They remind me of home… of Krypton, when it exploded. I couldn’t hear anything when it happened because I was already in space, but the thunder is how I imagined it sounded. And the lightning is _so_ similar.” She swallows thickly. “It’s just a lot, you know?”

Maggie nods, she does know. To some degree at least. “I’m sorry,” she says. She hasn’t heard Kara talk about Krypton a lot and it makes her heart ache to hear the younger woman speak about her dead planet.

Kara gives a sad smile. “I’m sorry about your family, too.”

Maggie shrugs as if to shove away all the painful emotions, to erase the knot in her stomach. They fall into a mostly comfortable silence, Kara’s breathing slows and a few more minutes pass. Maggie’s about to ease herself out of the bed, convinced the blonde’s asleep, when Kara talks again. “Maggie?”

“Hmm?” the detective hums softly.

“You’re basically my second big sister now. You know that, right?” she mutters sleepily, eyes closed.

Maggie’s beaming—so big, that she feels a bit ridiculous sitting there in the dark, feeling her heart melt at the phrases falling from the exhausted alien in front of her. It means more than she can ever say, to be accepted into this family. To have every piece of her loved again. “Thanks, Kara,” she says, voice thick and… are those tears she feels in her eyes? _Maggie, pull yourself together._ She’s a detective for Christ’s sake. She’s taken down criminals quite literally double her size and here she is, being disarmed by a Danvers once again. Damn them all and their big hearts and bright smiles and sweet words that fill all the cracks inside her. “I’m really glad to hear it.”

Kara looks content, smile on her face as she curls onto her side to the best of her ability given all the injuries littering her body, and Maggie’s sure the blonde is actually asleep a few minutes later when she mutters something that sounds suspiciously like ‘potstickers’ and ‘the fluffiest dog’ she’s ever seen.

Maggie grins, shaking her head as she slips off the bed and returns to the kitchen to finish cleaning the area. The pandemonium of the scene elicits tightness in her chest, she feels the grasp of fear return—cold and slimy in her stomach. Kara had been in a bad position when she’d showed up at the apartment just a few hours ago. Maggie heart clenches when she thinks of her girlfriend somewhere in the world, maybe on her way back even, and hopes she’ll be home soon.

/

Her wish is granted, sooner than Maggie expected at 3:37 AM when the apartment door cracks open slowly and Alex shifts her eyes from the ground over to the kitchen counter where she sees Maggie turned and looking out the window, fingers wrapped around a coffee mug.

“Maggie,” she says quietly and before she can inquire about why her girlfriend is awake at such a weird time or why the scent of cleaning supplies lingers slightly in the air, Maggie’s in her arms, shaking a little as she presses her face into Alex’s neck, all her emotions surfacing again when she feels the comfort of Alex so close.

“I missed you,” Maggie says, her voice soft and trembling. She presses their lips together into a soft kiss.

“I missed you, too,” Alex says when they break apart.

The agent drops her bag to the ground and lets her coat fall from the other arm so she can hug Maggie properly and once her arms are free, she tugs her close.

“What happened?” she whispers into Maggie’s ear, all the pieces of this moment adding up to inform her that something’s not right.

“The DEO got attacked, I don’t think anyone died but a lot of agents were hurt.” Maggie feels Alex tense in their embrace.

“Do I need to go? Is there anything I can do?”

Maggie leans back, a shrug falling from her shoulders. “I don’t know, I didn’t hear much.” A stuttering breath pulses from Maggie’s lungs and Alex waits for her to continue, puts hands on both of Maggie’s shoulders. “Kara got hurt. Badly,” Maggie says and her voice cracks.

Alex’s heart drops. She lowers a hand to take Maggie’s and squeezes it gently as her eyes dart across the apartment in the darkness. “Is she here? Is she okay now?”

Maggie nods. “I think she will be. I did my best to help her but the DEO med unit was down and I had no one to go to so I tried and I’m sorry, Alex. I’m so sorry. I don’t know if I was enough or if anything I did was right and I just…” she trails off, sucking in a deep breath. “Now you’re back and I didn’t even ask how you are. How was your mission? Are _you_ okay?”

“Shh. I’m fine.” Alex pulls Maggie back into a hug, rests her chin on the detective’s head as she holds her close for another moment. “And Kara’s bounced back from a lot. That kid’s resilient. I’m going to go check on her. Bedroom, right?”

Maggie nods and even though their hug ended, she keeps her hand in Alex’s and explains what’d happened, moment by moment, injury by injury as they walk to the bedroom. Alex is nearly done checking over Kara, has just reassured Maggie that Kara will be fine, the kryptonite is clearing from her system, albeit at a slow rate and while Kara’s most likely in pain, she will be okay; when the blonde’s eyes crack open and after a few fluttery blinks she’s able to focus on her sister.

“ ‘lex,” she whispers, word slurring as she tries to sit up and winces.

“Hey there, easy now,” Alex says and her arms find Kara’s back and shoulder, help lower her down.

Once Kara’s lying against the pillows again, her hand reaches out, fingers curling around the hem of Alex’s shirt. “You’re home.”

“I am.” Alex puts a hand on Kara’s leg, pats gently. “You feel okay?”

“Yeah,” Kara mutters.

“Good.”

“Missed you,” Kara says and she must be pretty exhausted because her eyes are already slipping closed again and usually when Alex gets home from a long mission her sister is up and bouncing with celebratory food and an arsenal of questions and stories and new tv episodes to catch both sisters up on everything they missed.

“I missed you, too. I’m glad you’re okay.” She strokes Kara’s hair, presses a kiss against her head as Kara mumbles an unintelligible response.

“Go back to sleep, Kar,” she whispers, fingers still threading through blonde waves, pulled loose from a braid. “I’ll be here in the morning.” She glances over Kara once more, needs to reassure herself that her little sister is safe.

“Wait.” Kara’s hand emerges from beneath the sheets to curl around Alex’s wrist, grip weak. “Hug,” she murmurs.

Alex smiles, shares a look with Maggie on the side, and climbs across the bed to pull her sister in the softest embrace she can manage, knowing how much a tight hug can hurt on broken ribs. Kara apparently doesn’t give a shit, because when Alex tries to wiggle out of the hug a minute later, the blonde only tightens her grip and cuddles closer.

When Alex looks down she sees that the younger woman has already fallen completely back into sleep, molding herself to Alex instinctively and keeping her arms wrapped around her sister. “It looks like I’m stuck here,” Alex says to Maggie, not looking upset at all. “Care to join us?” the agent asks, pulling an arm free from Kara’s grasp and patting the space beside her before holding an arm out to Maggie.

“If you insist.” The detective grins and pushes off the doorframe, crossing the room to snuggle under Alex’s arm.

“Thank you for taking care of Kara.”

Maggie smiles, drops her head onto Alex’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay? I was so scared I was going to mess something up.”

“She’ll be fine. You did well.”

Maggie lets out a sigh of relief, warm breath tickling Alex’s neck. “Good. I’m glad you’re back.”

The detective closes her eyes and Alex does the same, her lips brush against Maggie’s hair and Kara stirs just a little when she whispers. “Me too.”


End file.
